Minutes of Proceedings
Session: 2011/2012
Date: 26 June 2012
Venue: The Senate Chamber
The meeting opened in public session at 10.06 am.
The Chairperson advised that due to illness the briefing by the Department on the Programme for Government Delivery Plans, due to be held in Closed Session, had been cancelled.
1. Apologies
Apologies are detailed above.
2. Chair’s Business
The Chairperson advised Members that, as agreed by the Committee, Dr Charles Wessner has been invited to brief the Committee on 19 September 2012 and that as part of his visit to Northern Ireland a number of events have been organised by Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster which Members may wish to attend.
10.08 am Ms Gildernew joined the meeting.
3. Minutes of the meetings held on 20 June 2012
Agreed: The minutes of the Committee for Employment and Learning meeting held on 20 June 2012 were agreed.
4. Matters arising
- The Committee noted a list of matters arising from the previous meeting.
- The Committee noted a Department of Finance and Personnel Press Release on the Labour Market Statistics for the period February – April 2012 and that officials from NISRA have been invited to brief the Committee in the Autumn on the figures for the next quarterly period.
10.13 am Mr McElduff joined the meeting.
5. Briefing from the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) on Filipino and Agency Workers
The representatives joined the meeting at 10.14 am.
The Committee was briefed by Mr Patrick Yu, Executive Director, Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, Ms Helena Macormac, Strategy Advocacy Project, Ms Karen McLaughlin, Legal Policy Officer and Ms Elizabeth Nelson, Parliamentary and Campaigns Officer on Filipino and Agency Workers.
The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.
10.35 am Ms Gildernew left the meeting.
10.53 am Mr Lyttle joined the meeting.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to the Department requesting that it consult with the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities when it is reviewing Employment Law.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to the Department providing details of the Hansard of the briefing for information and comment, providing all briefing papers and requesting information on the following:
- how Employment Agencies which fall outside the UK jurisdiction can be controlled;
- why there are no figures available on the numbers of Migrant Workers working in core companies in the Meat, Poultry, Processing and Packaging Industries; and
- has the Department revisited the study The Private Recruitment Sector in NI, 2009 and if not does it have any plans to revisit the study.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to Moy Park requesting information on the employment practices with regard to agency workers employed by Moypark and those employed by their suppliers.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to the Confederation of British Industries, providing it with details of the Hansard of the briefing and requesting its comments on the issues raised.
11.07 am Mr Ross left the meeting.
The representatives left the meeting at 11.12 am.
11.12 am Mr McCann left the meeting.
6. Correspondence
The Committee considered the following items of correspondence:
- Correspondence from Steve Orr, NISP CONNECT, regarding an opportunity to invite Ms Mary Walshok, founder of CONNECT in San Diego, to meet with the Committee during her visit to Northern Ireland on 16 and 17 September 2012.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to hold an informal meeting with Ms Walshok and to invite the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment and representatives of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Business Trust to attend.
- Examiner of Statutory Rules Session 2011 – 2012: Twentieth Report to the Assembly and Appropriate Committees.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note the report.
- An invitation to the launch of the Oxford Economics Baseline report, An Economic Assessment of the Potential Cloud Opportunity in Northern Ireland on Thursday 28 June at 7.30am in the Titanic Building, Belfast.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
- A response from the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety regarding the Condition Management Programme.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
- Complaint from a member of the public regarding the Belfast Metropolitan College Auditor General Report 2011.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
- A response from the Minister for Employment and Learning regarding Training for Women Network (TWN) funding issues - Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme (ESF).
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
- Correspondence from the Minister for Employment and Learning regarding a Notice of Intention to make an oral statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on ‘Opportunities for Success: The Youth Employment Initiative’ on 2 July 2012.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
- A response from the Big Lottery Fund regarding the Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust (GRIT) - Big Lottery funding application.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence and to forward it to the Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust for information.
- Correspondence from the Committee for Finance and Personnel providing a research paper on scrutiny of the Main Estimates 2012-13.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.
7. Draft Forward Work Programme
The Committee considered the draft Forward Work Programme up to 17 October 2012.
Agreed: The Committee agreed that it was content to schedule these briefings.
8. Any Other Business
None.
9. Date, time and place of next meeting
Agreed: The Committee agreed that the next meeting should be held on Wednesday, 4 July 2012, at 10.00 am in Room 29, Parliament Buildings.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 11.15 pm.
